2012 in Review: The Year I Ran!

I can sum up 2012 simply with the following two sentences:

On 25 February I ran a personal best 45:44 for 10 km at the Deloitte Pretoria Race.

On 8 December I ran a personal best 37:34 for 10 km at the Great Run Challenge Series Race

An improvement of over eight minutes in 9 ½ months that I just never saw coming. Of course quite a bit happened in between, lots of training, joy, struggles, and heck even a marathon, but the story needs to go back at least 6 months.

              

Thanks to my borderline OCD when it comes to logging workouts and the memory bank that is Facebook Timeline, the sheer haphazardness of my 2011 became apparent. I thought I had put in a decent shift at least in the second half of the year when I made the commitment to run after supporting at Comrades, but just 345 km and swathes of empty weeks told their own story. Two 10 km races and PB of 48:00 was something to work off, but 2012 became a make or break year. Even in my school years of forced participation running was always a hit or miss affair and my adherence to training was always mediocre.

At the start of 2012, the buzzword was surely consistency. A consequence of consistency would be that I would run a lot more, but to get there I would need realistic but challenging goals to guide me. When I set my goals for 2012, I had already embarked on the first week of a half marathon training program so that was my starting point. My PB of 48:00 for 10 km predicted a half marathon time a shade slower than 1:45 but to push myself I set the target to 1:40. My goals for the year were set as follows

• ·         Half Marathon: sub 1:40
• ·         10km: sub 45:00
• ·         Finish a marathon

These goals, particularly the final one would really test my limits. Despite running sub 50:00 for the 10 km I had yet to finish the distance without resorting to a run/walk strategy for the second half of a race. Added to that was the fact that I had never run further than 10 km in a race or in training.

The quest got off to a spectacular start! I had a 10 km ‘fitness barometer’ race scheduled at the end of the first week of my 10 week half marathon program. Off-training over the festive period had turned into a long hiatus and by mid-February I had put in a solitary awful 7 km. So the race, the aforementioned Deloitte Pretoria Race, would give me an idea of how ambitious/crazy I was being. Despite once again having to employ a run/walk strategy I was surprised to run that big PB that set the ball rolling.

The half marathon training program introduced me to elements of a complete program that I may have neglected in the past. It incorporated a lot of easy running, something I was rubbish at, interval training, fartleks, still my favourite the tempo run and the introduction of long runs. My first ‘long’ run was 10km at 5:45 pace and it was an absolute blast. Even time wise, I had never run that long before and it was a confidence booster. The long run was extended week on week. While the tempo run was me in my element, there’s something about running comfortably hard, the track sessions were destroying me. I ended up doing most of my speed as fartleks on the road instead.

Throughout the course of the program I felt myself getting stronger though not necessarily faster. In March I ran another 10 km on a hilly course and ran outside my PB but a respectable 46:20. But I had a break through moment in early April when I did a 10 km tempo/time trial. I ran through the whole way and matched the 46:20 I had run, and for the first time didn’t feel shattered at the end. I spent the following week in Cape Town and had a second moment, my 16 km long run, done along the beach front in Muizenberg and it was the first time that I really felt like I had made progress and would get through a half marathon. I never once felt tired, didn’t need to stop for water and even my gel. I saw the most gorgeous sunrise and had waves crashing beneath for much of the run. I returned to Benoni, with the first inkling that I could and would succeed with the half marathon.

I had picked the Wally Hayward race to end my 10 week program on but my debut half marathon actually came earlier. Staying in Benoni, the Slow Mag marathon took place two weeks earlier and my rubber arm was gently twisted and I decided to do the race as a long run. I had planned to run 19km that day anyway so an extra 2 km did not seem like a big deal. The first  5 km was innocently done at marginally faster than training pace ~5:15/km but by 10km my average pace was under 5:00/km as I got into the spirit of the event and decided to race it anyway. It was the third wow moment of the year. I finished off the race in 1:38:42, well within my 1:40 target and actually ran sub 45:00 for the 10-20 km portion. I had never felt that strong before in a race! Two and half weeks later, I crushed that PB further running 1:35:01 at Wally Hayward. Wally was almost a perfect race, with each 5 km split faster than the preceding one. And the famed sting in the tail did not break me.

Goal #1 achieved.

While still giddy and on the PB train, I entered a 10 km race just 4 days after Wally Hayward, knowing that in both the two half marathons I had run, I had broken the 45 min mark in the 10-20 km portion. The route for the Jackie Mekler race was fast with some hills, and I was still fatigued from the half marathons but I really dug in deep and smashed my 10 km PB and the 45 minute barrier, running 42:38.

Goal #2 achieved.

This left me with 26 weeks to my target marathon. I picked, despite reservations from a number of people, the Soweto Marathon. I won’t rehash all of the details as I posted enough about it; suffice to say it was a tough endeavour. I needed to go through it though. This year was about commitment and pushing myself. Marathons and the training are not for the faint hearted and I learnt going through one particularly tough episode where I almost quit. Oddly at the end of that week, I ran a PB for 10 km, 39:04 at the Wanderers Challenge! While PBs fell all round, I ran 17:49 for 5 km, I cracked sub 40 10 km and sub 90 for the half twice for both distances, just being able to go out and run for 3 hours was something I never thought I would be able to do. The marathon itself was a chastening experience but I’m glad I gave it a good go and I’m proud of my 3:38:10 finish.

I finished a marathon dammit!

Goal #3 achieved.

That is not where it ends of course and I have already looked forward to 2013 and there are bigger better plans in the pipeline, the subject of another blog post.

But before jumping ahead, there were still 8 weeks left after Soweto Marathon and while I had promised myself some time off, I really couldn’t stay away and managed all of 4 days of no running and within two weeks I was lining up at the start line of a race, the Kolonnade Retail Park 10 km which resulted in a 38:22 PB! Three weeks later that PB would prove to be short lived as I improved that further by running 37:34 at the Great Run Challenge Series II race at Weskoppies. My final race of the year was the Old Year's Race on 29 December where I managed my third fastest 10 km time, 38:24, in incredibly testing conditions, with the temperature at the start being a body melting 32°C despite the 17:00 start. 

What the last 8 weeks of the year revealed to me, and a hint of what’s in store for 2013, was how much I really enjoyed racing short and fast. And while getting to the end of a 42.2 km race is the standout moment of the year for me, I’m really proud of my 10 km running. Throughout the year I improved my time for the distance from 2011 by over 10 minutes or more than 20%!

As I said at the beginning part of running consistently would have the knock on effect of me simply running more. My tally for the year stands at 2079 km, a weekly average of 40 km with a peak of 82 km, a monthly average of 173 km with a peak of 262 km. The marathon aside my longest run was 33km and 3:11 for time on the road. Racing was also a big feature of my year, collecting 21 medals, a fair chunk of them silver medals. 

The 2012 Medal Bounty!

The standout points for the year for me are as follow:

• A 17:49 5km PB
• 1:25:28 PB for the half marathon
• 37:34 PB for 10km, five sub 40 runs and 6 PBs
• Finishing a marathon!

After such an overwhelmingly successful and consistent 2012, here’s to an even better, more focused and even more specific 2013!

Almost the Perfect 10!

Post-marathon running has been all about chilling out and letting my legs do what they enjoy. That means (relatively) low mileage and high intensity. My biggest week thus far has been 54km, the longest run mo more than 15km and my average run is in the region of 8-9km. Looking at my dailymile profile another major change is the average pace of my runs which has has dropped from ~5:00/km at the peak of my marathon training phase to under 4:30/km. It's still hard work but honestly I love it! This is just so different from the (relatively) slow high volume training I did for over three months. I'm rarely out for more than 40 minutes, I work up a sweat and I feel energised after each workout.

Last week was a revelatory week for me, that wonderful feeling when you work through something in training, and struggle a bit but come race day, the moment to deliver, everything clicks.

One kilometre at a time

This past Tuesday so the return of my favourite track workout, 1km repeats. I don't know what it is about the session but 5 x 2.5 laps of a standard 400m track is the sort of workout that challenges my resolve yet remains completely and always attainable. It takes me a while to get inot 400m reps while mile reps are just too long, 800m comes close, but 1km hits the sweet spot. Right now I'm not too fazed by what pace I do them in. I'm concentrating on even effort and good form. I find it hard to work off a pace target right now because I haven't reached any kind of peak or plateau phase. I also respond well to speed training so find that week on week, my comfort level can shift dramatically.

1km Interval	Time	Recovery (600m)
1	03:30.8	02:46.1
2	03:23.4	02:38.3
3	03:22.4	02:50.3
4	03:22.7	03:01.6
5	03:23.7	-
Average	03:24.6	02:49.1

The first interval was just me getting into the swing of things but I felt good so decided to push a bit harder on the next four. I was really happy with my consistency, and that was I able to hit 81/82s laps without straining too much. The fourth and fifth intervals were tough but I maintain the pace. This session really hit home how much I have improved this year. Early in May I did a session of 1km repeats, where I couldn't even do the 5th and I was hitting around 3:53-3:56. Seven months later I have managed to average 3:25 for the same session off shorter rest, less than 3 minutes compared to 5 minutes then

Special Blocks

I have this morbid fascination with elite athletes and their training, where even though I know I will never train like them I don't think it hurts to apply some of their principles to my own training. The best in the business are Kenyans, so I have been looking to them for some inspiration. Something I came across was doing special blocks to simulate the demands of a race without sabotaging your training by doing the whole event. The principle is more applicable to marathon training but I tried it with my 10km training. 

Thursday is my double up day, I usually do a hard session in the morning and a recovery run in the afternoon. Last week I instead did my tempo as usual in the morning and ran my 5.2km run as a hard effort. In the morning I did 5km of hard running at target race pace and added to the afternoon effort made up ~10km at race pace.

The morning session was tougher than I expected, a combination of the warm weather, the monotony of lap running and the fact that I did it on grass. My 5km effort was in 18:46, 3:45/km, bang on target! The afternoon session was better, out on the road, and I hit 5km in 18:33 before easing back to the end. So my combined 10k m effort was 37:19.

The trick of course is to put those sessions together come 29 December.

Race Day: Great Challenge Series 10km

I'm working off a 3 week cycle, repeated twice, with the goal at the end of the six weeks to hit around 37:30 for 10km. So I did the Kolonnade 10km 3 weeks ago to see where I was post-marathon, and the Great Challenge 10km fell neatly into my three week cycle. I had heard the course was fast but tough, like Tom Jenkins a flat course with one steep climb thrown into the mix.

To be honest while I was hoping to break my 38:22 PB from Kolonnade, I wasn't expecting to run much faster, my goal was to be between 3:48 to 3:50 pace, good for 38:00 to 38:20. And of course that tough but fast description really had me scratching my head, but as you can see from the course profile it is actually completely accurate:

That's what a tough but fast course looks like!

Unlike the past two races where I ended up bogged in the pack. I positioned myself in the second row at the start and got off to a good start. The pace at the beginning was hot! I found myself around some speedy looking runners but I was feeling comfortable. Another than the short climb at the beginning it was plain sailing but I was worried about the pace and tried to settle down. I was through 2km in 7:00, and 3km in 10:35 and then calmed down a bit to go through 4km in 14:23! 

Then we climbed. And we climbed. And we climbed. It was a solid kilometre and suddenly I was through 5km in 19:04 after a 4:41 split. There was still a bit more mild climbing to the turnaround point, before the descent. You generally think you can make up time but even though I cruised back down the hill, my little legs can only turn so fast, and my return split for the 7th km was a 3:28 according to the Garmin, not much time gained back! 

I didn't pay too much attention to my splits as I hurtled back down the monster hill, but I hit 8km in 29:54, which would have been a PB for the distance, and as my thighs started to burn I just focused as I did during the speed sessions before in just maintaining good form and effort. Even a couple of 4:00/km splits would get me through and I pushed hard, but wishing for the end! And as I ran past the timekeepers and stopped my clock I was alarmed to see the time!

Madness!!!

37:46!!!!!

I was really blown away by the time. I know I am in the best shape of my life, I can feel it in training but I wasn't expecting to run a time like this just three weeks in, and only five weeks out from that first marathon. The special blocks was tough and I was still thinking three weeks down the line to get into the 37s.

My dad always tells me that if the last two kilometres are not challenging then I haven't raced hard enough, so I know I really gave it everything. Additionally I managed to negative split the race, 19:04 and 18:42, so it was well paced too despite me thinking I had gone out too hard!

Breaking into the 37s also took my cumulative tally of improvements over 10km to more than 10 minutes for the calendar year. The tally now stands at 10:14 or 21% improvement. I know this rate is unsustainable and in fact since breaking into sun 40s, I have dropped two minutes over 6 months, while the previous three months saw me drop more than 3 minutes. Minutes will become seconds will become parity but I hope to carry on into 2013 still chipping away.

So looking forward, the goal for the Cid to Cid Old Year's 10km on 29 December is still 37:30 (3:45/km or 16km/hour) as my A goal. If things go well on the day I would love to try for a sub 6:00/mile pace, which is 37:11 or faster as a B goal. Otherwise just another PB to end what has really been an awesome year!

EDIT: Official results are finally out for the Great Run 10km, 37:34 for 23rd place!

Speed Thrills: Just missing a PB and hitting the track hard

EDIT: It turns out that the Kolonnade Retail Park 10km went much better than I thought and my official time was 38:22 for 27th place out of 1672 finishers

Over the last 3-4 months, I just forgot how much I love running fast. Now of course fast is relative, on a single tracl repeat I would struggle to keep up with Mary Keitany while she is scorching her way to a sub 2:20 marathon, but for me it's blinding fast, and it's thrilling! I haven't done a true speed workout since mid August. as session of 6 X 800 at 90s per lap. My body sent out alarm signals after that workout, and to get through marathon training I dropped the fast stuff and instead supplemented my endurance runs with session of long marathon pace repeats that eventually became one continuous running. Looking back those were long arduous sessions. There was no rush just work, work, work. That's not to say I didn't enjoy them, but going round at 1:44-1:48 per lap for 5-10 laps worth per repeat is a different kind of beast to even 90s laps.

After my harrowing but amazing experience doing my first marathon I was concerned for my speed. Leading up to the marathon I had run my 10km PB of 39:04 and them lowered my half marathon PB to 1:25:28, but those races came 10 and 5 weeks before the marathon respectively. With no speed work, the only reminder that I still had anything approaching a fifth gear were a couple of ~5km time trials where I was able to hit 3:40/km splits admittedly on elevation conjusive to fast times...i.e dowhill! I had convinced myself I would have to start again.

Post-marathon, I endeavoured to take 2 weeks off but I couldn't stay away and ended up following Hal Hidgons recovery plan, well the first two weeks of it. It involves gradually easing back in and to be honest the first couple of runs hurt a lot. By week 2 though I managed a 6km tempo and the aforementioned time trial, and my legs were suddenly remembering something they used to do long before marathon training had become the routine.

The feeling the way back slowly after the marathon comeback race

I decided to enter a 10km on 17th November that promised a flat, fast and easy route. This being a Gauteng race in Pretoria, I was skeptical of that description but I really wanted to get out anyway. The race was at the Kolonnade Retail Park in Montana, Pretoria North, a bit out of the way but some careful planning, pre-entering and leaving reasonably meant it was a stress free morning and I even managed to warm up properly. Making my way to the start I was relieved to see that it looked as if walkers and runners had a separate start. A relief, I thought.

I positioned myself close to the start balloon, which I hoped would help me get away fine. While I wasn't planning to race I hate getting caught up in the pack early. Bizarrely, the runners were filling in from the front, so my position in close proximity to the start quickly became in not so proximity to the start. This meant that getting away was difficult once the gun went, 6 minutes later than the scheduled start. Then the separate start for runners and walker proved to be ineffectual as the merge was literally immediate meaning there was another bottleneck as soon as the merge took place. Grrr.

This is my pace graph from my Garmin

Ridiculous

I din;t actually start running until around 50s on my watch. Playing around with the player view on Garmin Connect it was not surprising to discover that I covered just 50m in the first 48s and 100m up to 57s when thankfully I was now at full speed.

From that point on it was just bliss. I ran a perfect race, dismissing immediately an fears I had about marathon running obliterating my raw speed. The read out from the Garmin is delight. Other than the first kilometre and the 9th kilometre, every split was below 4:00 and just one slower than 3:50. In reality I am actually in better 10km shape than I've ever been. Taking out that horrific start, I was rocking along at 3:50/km for almost 10km, and with my own loose maths, would have knocked out something in the region of 38:30. The course was 90% flat with about 60m eleveation but having just run a marathon two weeks before I will take that! My unofficial time was 39:16 just 12s short of my PB and in the race conditions and my own physical condition I think it is still a really good time and something for me to build on going forward.

To Tempo and To Interval

Whilst I have already chose my next marathon (Slow Mag, 14 April 2013) and have a rough skeleton of a shorter (12 weeks) but higher mileage program (90km/week peak and and an average of 72km/week), I have decided to keep myself busy by running fast in the forthcoming 9 weeks, starting with a goal to break my 10km PB. My goal is aggressive  sub 38:00 and ideally a 90s PB which would put me in the 37:30 range. I genuinely believe I have the leg speed to do it but I need to seriously worked on my pace stamina and also just need to be brave on race day! My training now is 6 weeks long and involves 3 weeks of stamina based efforts, 2 weeks of speed and a week to mini taper to the Old Years race in Pretoria on 29 December, a flat fast course with a sting in the tail

To work on that stamina means running my favourite workout, tempos! Tempos were staple of my running diet for the first half of the year and I believe were the primary contributor to my initial wave of PBs. They gave way to more endurance but now I can devote one weekly run to this workout. I plan to start off at 20miutes and build up to 35 minutes of tempo pace running by the end of my program. The tempos will be supplemented with cruise intervals later on as I do raw speed training. My first tempo this week was a ~7km run (7.4km it ended up as) with a 5km portion at  tempo pace. My tempo zone is 3:50-4:00 and I nailed the 5km in 19:30 (3:54 pace), right in the zone and pretty much even pace/

Today, I did a session of short track intervals, 10 x 400m, looking for control, good form and most of all consistency.While I keep thinking I have done speed work, in reality until today, I could count the number of genuine interval sessions I had done in the past 10 months on my two hands, and none of them were particularly high intensity or high volume. While I have slowly been warming up to running laps, and will extol the virtues of the task to anyone who asks, I am not overly enthusiastic about the monotony and have rather done fartleks on the road instead.

So I wasn't really sure what to aim for but since my 10km best case target pace is 3:45 I wanted a string of sub 90s 400m to get these creaky legs turning again. And since it was early on in training I didn't want to push too hard hittin 5km pace and faster.  This is how it went in raw numerical detail.

Interval	Time	Pace (/km)	Recovery (300m)
1	86	03:35	86
2	84	03:30	86
3	83	03:27	91
4	83	03:27	92
5	83	03:27	96
6	82	03:25	90
7	82	03:26	90
8	82	03:25	92
9	81	03:23	95
10	76	03:11	93
Average	82.2	03:25	91.1

To be honest I was really surprised with that outcome, both the pace and the relative comfort with which I managed them. Somewhere in the middle of intervals 7 and 8 I doubted I would get through but by the 9th I was good again. And the 76s was on a whim, I just decided to push a little bit harder and see what would happen. What really makes me happy is that other than the two outliers the first and the last, that is some pretty consistent running, and I didn't struggle too much as the session progressed. Later on this will be bumped to 12 x 400 and I'm not even remotely worried anymore. While I knew I would I would enjoy the tempo, I was expecting some serious burn. 

Coming up I will do some 800s and 1000s before revisiting the 400s again in week 4, then closing off with 1000s in week 5 and low volume 800s in the final week, all hopefully at this pace of 3 around 3:25-3:35, corresponding to 3km-5km pace for my target 10km time. Week 4 and 5 will also see  me doing mile repeats at cruise interval pace so closer to 8km pace just to maintain some stamina.

I have once check point, a 10km race on 8 December where I should be comfortable running at or just faster than my current PB pace of 3:54. I'm not going for any fireworks just yet and will in fact be doing that race at the top end of my tempo zone.

So post-marathon running is off to a joyful and fast start and I hope to keep it up!

City2City Half Marathon: The PB run continues

Following the Irene Spring Race last weekend things didn't go according to plan. Follwoing months of tough guy bravado over my health and my running load my body finally succumbed. Running in the rain at the race probably didn't help either. I was booked off with respiratory tract infection and ultimately got some much needed rest, in bed for two days.

That rest served me well. Having entered the Bonitas City2City Half Marathon, I was keen to do the event.  All of the races I have done so far, Wally Hayward excepeted, have been undoubtedly local events, and City2City definitely has a big race vibe to it. It's not in the league of Comrades or Two Oceans but definitely feels more similar to those events than anything else I have run.

To recap then this was the challenge that I  and 2100 odd half marathon runners, 3500 if you include the 10km runners who shared the first 9km with us faced:

City2City Half Marathon course and profile

After collecting my race pack and goodie bag on Saturday morning, I drove the first 12km to get a sense of the challenge. I've run in the area before while doing the Nike+ Centurion Run Club so I was familiar with the general terrain, as out 5.3km route climbs up to Glover Avenue albeit one block up. I knew the first half was tough but after driving it I was expecting particularly that stretch between 4km and 6km to be a stinker that needs to be respected.

Sunday morning was an early start. I was up by 4 am, and had my usual morning fuel, 100ml yoghurt, a banana and a cup of coffee. Thankfully it would appear my stress induced bowel movements are now a thing of the past. My mother and brother were also running, doing the 10km, and we were off by 4:55 to head to the venue. I was worried about parking and traffic and I was overly cautious as we parked and at the start by 5:30. This gave me plenty of time to warm up and mingle and be ready for the 6:30 start.

The first km was a bit of a disaster as I somehow contrived to start then pause the Garmin, so I was getting pace information but no time or distance. I only figured this out as I checked my time at the first kilometre. So I then had to rely on ~20km of timing data, and adding on a predicted 4:00 for that first kilometre.

My goal was to respect the first half and finish strong but a discussion with a fellow runner on Twitter planted a seed that took route from that first kilometre. Since the second half is easier why not be aggresive in the first half anyway since I'm less likely to pay as the downhill trend would be more forgiving than a standard route?

And that's pretty much how it went. I hovered around 4:00/km pace throughout. My exact splits are difficult to guage of course but some reverse maths, has my first kilometre at 3:53, so I estimate that I went through 5km in 20 flat, 10km, in 40:30, 11km in 44:30, 15km in 1:00:50 and 20km in 1:20:55. Attacking the first half meant that I didn't negative split the race but I doubt if I had gone through 11km in 47:00 like I had planned to, I would have managed much quicker than 40:00 for that last stretch. My aggressive first half was still sensible in the end and gave me a time that I didn't think was possible at the start. As I rounded the final bend at the Centurion Rugby Club to see the clock just ticking to 1:25:20, I was over the moon.

At the finish...PB!!!

I crossed the line officially in 1:25:28. This was an improvement of 2:40 over last weekends time, and a crazy 9:33 from my Wally Hayward time on 1 May, and a further13:14 over my debut half marathon at Slow Mag, which was as recently as 15 April. It was another silver medal to add to the collection, and 77th overall out of 2159 finishers in such a big race is such a confidence booster.

This is likely my last half marathon of the year. Going through my calendar I have already run 16 official races  this year, not counting my one visit to Ebotse Park Run, and 10 of them have resulted in a PB of sorts, excluding first time attempts at a distance. The half marathon was an important component of my running goals for 2012. I did the half marathon, after not quite mastering the 10km, to get out of my comfort zone. I had remarkably enough never finished a 10km without walking, befreo towing the start at Slow Mag. So while for most club athletes a half marathon is not a big deal it was a defining point for me to prove that I could have the discipline to start a program and stick with it right to its conclusion. My goal was to run sub 1:40 and to be sat here now, 29 seconds away from a sub 1:25 half marathon is the stuff of dreams. A sub 90 was on my 2 year/end of 2013 roadmap, and now I'm going to have rewrite my plans for next year from scratch!

The half marathon is undoubtedly my favourite distance to race now, challenging enough but also forgiving enough to allow some tactical flexibility. And the City2City half marathon replaces the Wally Hayward as the most enjoyable race I have done. Tough, enjoyable and rewarding with a time beyond what I had expected.

'Twas the season of the PB

As I head into off season/base training I can reflect on what has been the best and most enjoyably period of running in my life. I started the year as a disgruntled runner. I had a 48:00 10km to my name but just couldn't see where any improvements would come from. After some goal setting, nearly three months later targets are getting crossed off, and the improvements are coming thick and fast. Good times! After an awesome run at Wally Hayward, crossing off the first of my goals to run a sub 1:40 half marathon, I was ready to my feet up, but also start looking ahead for the rest of the year. So I got myself a coach. And who better than my father. He is very experienced having started a club when he was in London and now at UNISA. He is a fantastic runner with many many marathons to his name. Even in his mid 50s continues run amazing time, running a 1:24 half marathon as recently as last year. At his peak he was doing a 32 min 10km, a 70 min half and has a 2:30 marathon PB. I'm in good hands.

My first act as a coached athlete was however to ignore the advice of the coach. Though I ran pretty hard on Tuesday, I entered a 10km race in Pretoria, aiming to cross the first of my 2012 goals, to run a sub 45 10km. My logic was 2-fold. I was still on a high from the Wally Hayward. Also, the SA race calendar is very much centered around Comrades, so the runners taper in the month of May, the race calendar winds down. Likewise in June as the runners recover from completing one of the toughest road races in the world the calendar reflects this. The would be not be another serious opportunity to have a crack it.

So on Saturday morning I set of to Thaba Tshwane to do the 10km at the Jackie Mekler Memorial Race. The route was supposedly flat with a couple of undulations. It was freezing and the race was an earlier start than I have been used to, with 25km setting off at 6 AM and the 10 and 5 km races going 15 minutes later. To cut to the chase, after a steady first kilometre in around 4:40, I set of and just went as quick as my tired legs would take me. Racing so soon after the half was indeed risky. I could feel it on the climbs but I kept my splits constant, going through 5km in 21:15. I slowed a bit in the seconds half. By 8km I was really struggling but dug in enough to finish the race in unofficially a smashing new PB of 42:41 42:38. That's three minutes better than my previous best, and over 5 minutes quicker than what I started with in the new year.

Approaching the finish at the Jackie Mekler Memorial 10km on the way to a 42:41 42:38 PB

At the finish. Tough race but job well done!

The risk paid off and it meas I have managed to cross of two of my three 2012 goals. I'm really pleased that both were done comprehensively. Now I can focus my attention fully on training for the Soweto Marathon on the 4th November. The coach is going to put me on a 25 week plan starting on Monday beginning with six weeks of base building. The plan with gradually increase my speed through short and long intervals, bring in tempo pace, increase my stamina and end with three weeks of tapering. It's going to be long, it's going to be brutal but I'm excited. For now I'm going to reflect on an awesome 10 and a bit weeks where I learnt a lot about being runner, the value of having and sticking to a plan, and then reaping the rewards.

Highlights

• Taking 2:16 off my 10km at the Deloitte Pretoria 10km on 25th February to finish in 45:44 (4:35 min/km pace), a good omen
• Finishing my first half marathon at the Slow Mag race in Benoni in 1:38:42 (4:41 min/km pace)
• Improving my half marathon time by 3:4941 to finish unofficially in 1:34:53 1:35:01 (4:2930 min/km pace) and breaking (just about) equalling the 4:30 min/km average over race distance
• Finally breaking 45 min for 10km and taking 3:03 3:06 off my previous best to finish the Jackie Mekler Memorial in 42:41 42:38 (4:16 min/km pace)

Breaking the 4:30 min/km barrier

Finally the day came. It has been a long 10 weeks leading up to the Wally Hayward Half Marathon but it was worth it. Then just over 10 weeks ago, after nearly two months of inactivity, I decided to not go back on the pledge I made to myself to become a runner. Since 20the December 2011 I had been for a solitary 7km jog. It was now the 18th February after yet another 'come back' run. Instead of continuing with my initial plan of improving my 10km time, I decided to do something I had never done before, but realistic and achievable. So I set my mind, heart and body on running a half marathon.

And here I am now, having done two of them and feeling very good. 

The Weekend Before

This weekend though things didn't look so rosy. After running Slow Mag I focussed on sharpening my legs, focussing on short tempo runs, speed sessions and working hills into my running. On Saturday however, as I did my last serious one, 7km with 2km at race pace, a final reminder, I didn't feel good at all. It felt to me like fatigue. I struggled ending the session and cancelled my 30 minute shakedown. While there was nothing remarkable about how much mileage I had done, it peaked at 50km/week and avergaed 40km/week, it was a serious bump compared to what I was doing last year. I was worried that my body had simply had enough.

My wife and son had also picked up something in the air and being surrounded by sneezing snivelling people, it was inevitable that I would be affected. Indeed on Sunday night I felt awful, my nose was runny and I was sneezing constantly. I had anticipated the possibility of getting sick and had got medication from the pharmacy. Thankfully it was just a head cold but I still felt awfully. Things improved on Monday but by the evening I wasn't sure if I would be at the start line on Tuesday.

I was concerned about the weather too. Monday was a scorcher, peaking at about 28 degrees celsius and the forecast was much the same for Tuesday. Fatigue, a head cold and unseasonablly warm temperatures. The signgs were not good.

Pre-Race

I was up way before 4 AM on Tuesday morning. I got out of bed at 4:15, had my usual pre-race snack of 100ml yoghurt and a piece of route. I was keeping hydrated with water and sports drink. Just after 5 AM we made out way to the Hoerskool Zwartkop (my mother was running the 10 km and my brother came along to help with carrying stuff and support).

Thankfully parking was not a problem considering the size of the race. I'm glad we didn't leave earlier as we had a full hour before the race once parked. The was a moderate walk to the start. The place was already buzzing, I really love the vibe at races. I did my warm up, gentle jogging and stretching and at 6:15 made sure I got a decent spot.

The crowd was very friendly. People were chatty and relaxed. I usually keep to myself, but I was enjoying the banter, which helped me forget my woes from the last couple of days.

After some announcements and usual protocols, the race started just after 6:30

The best race of my life

 I had a great run at Slow Mag, due to the lack of pressure, and the 'take it as it comes' attitude I had on the day. This was the one I had been working towards and I was nervous. I had made and saved pace bands for 1:35, 1:36, 1:37 and 1:38 times. I had created my own custom pace band by breaking the race into 10, 5 and 5 sections. I had studied the course, sourced information from people who had done it. In short I was obsessed. 

All of that went out the window once the hooter went.

Finding a rhythm: The first five kays

Steady was the order of the day. I wanted to ease into my pace and go conservatively but not as much as Slow Mag. I was targetting 4:45min/km pace for the first 5kms and just to find my rhythm before the hard work between 5km and 10km. The first two kms were comfortable and I felt good, going just below 5:00min/km. I met one of my father's runners from UNISA AC and since he was doing the full marathon I ran a few kms with him to stop me from getting ahead of myself. I went through 5 km in 23:40, 4:43 pace, so far so good.

The slow poisonous climb: 5 to 10 km 

The end aside, this was the part of the race I had identified as critical to me running a good time. It's not until 6km when it becomes obvious that you are climbing. It is a gentle climb but it's a kilometre long. I just put my head down and reminded myself that I had prepared for this in the previous two weeks. Once we crossed the N14 at the 7km mark I had a glance at my watch and realizing I was still maintaining a good pace, I began to feel for the first time that this could be a great day for me. I picked up the pace and worked at reaching 10km in my target time of 47:00. I hit 10km at 46:40, 4:40 pace, and knowing that I had navigated the toughest part of the course for a little while, I set about trying to bank time for 'Hakkin Hill', with a great opportunity to improved on the 1:38:42 I had run at Slow Mag

Time trialling: 10 to 15 km

My aim was to run negative splits and that meant having to really get going. The next 5km were something of a blur, as I ignored the watch and just worked on increasing leg turnover. I was delighted when I hit 15km  in 1:08:31. That split was 21:51 at 4:22 pace and overall now down to 4:34. I was now under PB time and now on course for not just a PB but 1:37 or better.

Run like the wind: 15 to 20 km

By this stage I was stuck in a groove and just thinking 'PB, PB, PB'. The obsessive time checking returned now. It was not just the PB that was weighing in on my mind but trying to figure out how much time I needed to bank for the last kilometre. I ran faster and harder than I have ever run, 4:08, 4:11, 4:04, 4:12, 4:12. I hit 20km in 1:29:18 at 4:28 pace, the last 5 km went by in 20:47 at 4:09 pace, the previous 10 km in 42:38 at 4:16 pace. Both times would easily break my current PBs for those distances. On beginning the 21st km, a new PB was safe and a sub 1:35 was suddenly a possibility.

The sting in the tail: surviving Hakkin Hill

I have gone over the last 1.1 km of this race as obsessively as anything  else but once after hitting Valley Rd with the finish in sight, the sheer enormity of the task that lay ahead hit me. With each stride my pace slowed and slowed. I refused to walk but the clock was ticking perilously close to 1:35. Finally the gate entering the school grounds was visible and I pushed. It was a brutal ending but I made it, unofficially in 1:34:53. It will be touch and go when official times are released but I'm certain I sneaked in under 1:35.

Wally Hayward was a great experience. It was easily one of the best organized races I have been to, everything from getting parking, the start, the many water points and the enthusiasm of the marshals and volunteers made it a very fun event. I hope to make it a fixture in my racing calendar.

Breaking the 4:30min/km barrier 

Breaking 45 minutes for 10km, or put differently 4:30 min/km was a shadow that I was chasing last year and  that's what drove me to almost stop running. I had run 48:00 in November and 45 min was right there. I trained myself into the ground and that last workout in December, I remember just grinding to a halt after yet another high intensity work. The general advice is that a significant portion of running workouts should be easy/recovery, but for me it was the opposite and for a relative beginner it was suicidal.

So when I finished the Wally Hayward Half Marathon as significant as just running a great time, way way faster than what I had initially set as a target, was that I had breached that psychological barrier that was turning into an obsession. I got close with the 45:44 at the Deloitte Pretoria race, but to have done it over 21.1 km fills me with a lot of joy.

So what now? I set myself three goals, that sub 45:00 10km, finish a half marathon well and complete a full marathon (no time target, just finish and finish strong). I have a few 10km races, and a 15km to keep me busy. I'm not going to obsess over the times, I'll just trust my legs. Then from mid June I begin an 18 week journey to that first marathon.

EDIT: official results are out and I missed out on breaking the 4:30 min/km by 5 seconds! Official time was 1:35:01

There's a first time for everything: Time to taper

I have finally got to the last week of my 10 week half marathon training program and it's time to taper. It dawned on me that this is the first time I have ever had a proper program and followed it through (almost) to the end. Okay so I kinda cheated by going hard two Sundays ago and doing a full 21.1 instead of the planned 19, and racing the second half, but this past week I took it easier than I had planned. I did a very easy 6km run on Tuesday and instead of the scheduled track workout I went on the road and did a fartlek session  and again didn't go all out. By the weekend I was feeling refreshed and did 6km on Saturday with a focus on hills and pushed hard on a 2km incline (at 4:30 pace) in the middle of the route. I cut my Sunday run from 15km to 11km and again added 2.5 km of hills split into a 1.5km climb from about 4.5km and a 1km climb at 8km. That is one thing I have been lazy with, hill training, but I still felt good pushing a bit, but it's something I have to start fitting into my workouts.

This week is a no nonsense week. a couple of easy 6s on Tuesday and Saturday, sandwiching a few 400m repeats on the track on Thursday. There is a bit of moisture in the air, so hopefully it holds out otherwise I will repeat the fartlek from last week just to get my legs turning. Then either on the Sunday or the Monday I will do a very easy 5km jog and then it is race day on Tuesday, the one I have been training for all along. I must say while I'm not feeling fatigued, I can feel that I have put in 334km since 18 February. Not since school days where I was doing 3 sessions a week have I stuck so resolutely to a plan. The 149km I put in last month was easily the most I have ever done but by the end of this month I will have done another 160. The most mileage I had put in since I started running again in June was 78 in November last year, and I doubt I have ever put in that much at any other time in my life so this is very new territory for me. I'm really just looking forward to slowing down, cutting down the kays and conserving my energy for an all out effort on the 1st.

While I really enjoyed the Slowmag and was surprised with how comfortably I cleared 1:40 (official time was 1:38:42) after initially shooting for 1:45 when I started training, I'm now slightly confused as to how I should approach the Wally Hayward. The first consideration is that the route is a bit tougher. Slowmag was relatively flat with a bit of an incline between 13.5 and 14.5km. The Wally Hayward has what is described in Runnersguide.co.za as "the slow and poisonous climb over the highway" from about 6km and it's a gradual climb but you never really stop until about 11km. Then there is the dreaded and famed Hakkin Hill at the end which I still remember from doing the 10km in 2006! Secondly as I said earlier, my pace for the Slowmag, ~49:20 for the first 10km and the same time for the following 11km, was perfect but a plan I stumbled upon by accident since I had begun with a training run in mind. Now do I push a little harder here maybe aiming for a very doable 47:30-48:00 for the first 10? Hakkin Hill expected, the last 10 for Wally actually look easier than Slowmag with a predominantly downhill path so 4:25 pace  as I managed at Slowmag for the remainder of the race is a possibility and I could be flirting with a good PB of between 1:36 and 1:37. But then again, with the slightly more challenging beginning, I might not have as much in reserve as I had a Slowmag to effectively run a PB for the last 10km (guesstimated about 44:15 for the last 10km).. By going out at 5:20 for the first 3km at Slowmag and then easing into my stride to only break the 5:00/km average pace only at 9km, allowed me to really go for it in the second half.


Decisions. Decisions.


Ultimately I just want a great run and know that If I enjoy myself and race intelligently, then a good time for the course will follow.

When plans go awry...for the better

I was scheduled to do a 19km long run today, but since the Slow Mag Marathon was taking place in Benoni, my neck of the woods, I decided to enter. The plan was to use it as training run, and to simulate my race routine as well as to acclimatise myself to the distance. The half marathon is foreign territory for me. Every long run in excess of 10 km I've done over the past eight weeks has been a new distance record for me. I approached the session with some trepidation but also a small measure of confidence since I have been faithful to my training program.

As I was in the mindset of a training run, my usual pre race jitters were absent. I had my gear ready the night before, my gels and post run energy bar in my belt. I had my usual pre run snack of a yoghurt and made my way to the venue, which is also where we do club runs. There were familiar faces from my club, Run/Walk for Life, further easing the tension. We had a few laughs exchanged goals for the race and warmed up. With 15 minutes to go we headed out to the start.

Once the gun went, I settled into a nice easy pace. Usually at the start of a race I try mighty hard to escape the clutches of the mob but I was content to cruise. I went through the first kilometre at 5:40 with plenty of room on the route with crowd thinning. The next two kays continued in the same vein with no drama and I hit the 3km mark in 16:00.

At this stage I really felt like I was running well within myself. I don't know what it is about the race environment, if it's the comfort of a crowd but my feet were ticking along, I was eating up the miles while exerting minimal effort. Exactly how an easy run should be. My splits were telling a different story though as with every kilometre I was inching towards the 5min/km average. In fact by 10km, still coasting along, I was under it, going through in a steady 49:20.

I had planned to do a 5km race pace simulation between 10km and 15km, but I was so far ahead of my target time of 55 min at this stage that I decided to just race. The 11th kilometre took us along a narrow concrete path through the golf course on the Ebotse Golf Estate so I kept it steady before we hit the tar again.

Then the racing began. I upped the tempo and was soon in my stride. I hit 4:30/km consistently, and was through 15km in just over 1:12. I was feeling really good and at 16km I had the confidence to go up another gear and hit 4:20/km. I could sense that despite my relatively conservative first half, a sub 1:40 was on the cards if I kept up the charge. When I went under 1:27 at 18km, running through roads I often trained on, it was now a matter of how far under I would dip. I did the last 1.1km in 4 minutes and stopped my watch at the finish in 1:38:40! I expect a few more seconds to be added when the official times are released but I'm thrilled. Yes I was a bit naughty to have raced with two weeks still to go with my 10 week program, but a lot of work had gone in to training in the last wight weeks and I was ready to attack a half already.

I have achieved the goal I set for myself in February but I still have my entry for the Wally Hayward half and I will be there at the start on 1st May at 6:30. I'm not sure how to approach training so far but I think I will start tapering and just fo for another sub 1:40 on what should be a tougher course than the Slow Mag. At least I have a pacing and refuelling strategy that got me through 21.1km without feeling overly exerted.

After Wally I'm going to concentrate on cracking the 45 minute barrier for 10km. I did the last 10km today in 44:30 so it's doable. That will be two of my goals for the year ticked off leaving just the challenge of completing a full marathon.

Job well: After an unexpected 1:38:42 at the Slow Mag 21.1